


Lumiere, darling

by shewandered_shewrote



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Real Person Fiction
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 15:50:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7059217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shewandered_shewrote/pseuds/shewandered_shewrote
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She's read that Aristotle was a great philosopher. Ella figures out just how much when the curtain is finally lifted and the light finally shines through.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lumiere, darling

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone :) I began writing Chris x Ella fics a while back, which I posted on my tumblr. I've decided to share my work with you guys here, so hopefully you like it :)  
> In my fics, Chris and Ella met on set a few years ago, and are currently filming CA:TWS. Sometimes, things between the two are clear. Other times, its fuzzy as hell.

“For as the eyes of bats are to the blaze of day, so is the reason in our soul to the things which are by nature most evident of all” (Aristotle).  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first time he asks her, she pretends she’s asleep. It happens when they’re both sitting in the back of his car, on their way back to the hotel from the diner the cast went to dinner for. She’s so tired that she simply lays her head on his shoulder, taking in his cologne and wondering how on earth is he so warm when it’s literally freezing outside? She vaguely remembers the sound of tires against the gravel, the soft whisper of the wind, the tinkling of the first pearls of rain hitting the car roof and creating abstract patterns on her window. But she does remember, clearly, the soft and careful - slightly husky - voice. His voice. He asks her, more like breathes the question out, and waits for her response. 

“Ella? You with me?” He prods. 

But she can’t think properly of a good enough response, so she keeps her eyes closed and pretends to sleep. All the while, the question repeats itself in her mind. Over and over and over again. He has asked her tons of times before, yes, but this time he sounds serious - almost desperate. He doesn’t sound like he’s attempting a challenge presented by Mackie or Renner. Oh no. Its worse. He sounds honest. And she doesn’t know an honest answer for his honest question. So she merely ignores him, Chr - no Evans, and tries to fall asleep. His voice keeps repeating in her brain. Again. And again. Do you want to give us a shot?… Do you want to give us a shot?…

\-----------

The next time he asks her, they’re on a balcony of a hotel. They were celebrating someones birthday. She’s forgotten whose. All she is aware of is that her heels are painfully squeezing her feet and that Evans looks sort of weird with his golden hair. And she tells him this. He laughs.

“Really? You don’t like this whole Steve Rogers look? I thought it looks kinda good next to flame haired beauties.” he winks in her direction. Ella can’t help but roll her eyes, his flirtatious nature just can’t rest can it? Before she can stop herself, she blurts out “but this flame haired beauty likes you with brown hair. Makes you look hotter”. Shit. Did she just compliment him? Shit!

Its strange how she’d been praising him this time around. As she notices his arched brows and smirk, she can feel herself turn red. They’d barely been shooting for Cap 2 for two weeks and she’d already flirted with him a handful of times. Unconsciously flirted with him a handful of times. She was surprised when he didn’t say anything but just kept overlooking at the London skyline, sipping his drink. There was this feeling in her stomach, the butterfly one. She didn’t know why. Just like how she didn’t know why she’d wait every morning for him at breakfast. Why she’d sit next to him at table reads or between takes. Why he seemed so different yet similar. She’s known him for a few years now, having worked at a movie together, as leads, when she was 20 and he was 27. Now she is 23 and he is 30. She considers him a - an acquaintance. She doesn’t know if its her past experiences that keep him at bay or if its something else. But she can’t seem to get rid of him or thoughts of him.

She is pondering their confused ties when Evans asks her again in a low voice, staring at her with his piercing blue eyes, “Do you want to give us a shot?”. There. Again. It’s been six months since he last asked her that and it’s been going around her head non-stop. And now he has said it again. Damn it. She looks at him, his eyes and. And. And she doesn’t know. she doesn’t know how he could possibly still ask her that? How has he not forgotten her yet? And why is he asking her? Is it some long standing joke or dare? Damn Evans. He is everything she fears. Famous. Rich. Attractive. Flirtatious. Funny. Eloquent. Kind. Caring. Family oriented. There she goes. Her thoughts somehow manage to turn towards Evans’ positive aspects. She always finds herself appreciating him. Why. She can’t deal with this now. Not when she has considerable amounts of alcohol in her system. So she pretends to ignore his question, his sigh of “Ella…”, his disappointed look. She picks up her clutch and finishes her glass of gin + tonic and turns towards the exit and bumps into Sebastian. She’d forgotten he was standing there too. She frown at his frown and at his disgruntled expression. Again, she can’t think straight. So she walks away, his damned voice finding home in her thoughts once more.

\------------

The third time the questions is asked, it isn’t Evans but Stan. it’s the last day of filming. Honestly, she thinks she should get more credit for putting up with Evans, Mackie and Stan. The damned trio. She’s running from Mackie who is insistent on getting her in a water fight that the boys have gotten into. She makes her way to her dressing room and picks up her coffee. God bless whoever gets the bloody coffee each day. Its the only thing that keeps her brain working at shoots. She sits and awaits Sebastian who wanted to ask her about a good restaurant to take his girlfriend to. With her eyes closed she tries to relax herself. Evans’ laugh at something she said before coming here rings in her ear still and brings a smile to her face. The man has some infectious laughter, God help everyone. A knock on her door draws her attention away from his smile. His smile? What? Sebastian strolls in and assumes it is okay for him to plop down on her couch. He takes in her satisfied smile and questions it. Ella swears her life is a gigantic question by this point. Nonetheless, she tells him of how incredible this coffee is and how she appreciates her assistant for it. That is when her little bubble bursts. With a slightly incredulous look, Stan states that her coffee is brought by “Chris, didn’t you know? I thought you knew I mean c’mon his fucking handwriting is on those notes and why on earth would your assistant wish you a ‘bright morning beautiful’?”. Well so the barista isn’t her fan then, she thinks. Nope. Its Evans. Evans Evans Evans. Everything comes back to him. He seems different now though. Has seemed different for a while now. And she wonders whats wrong. So she asks Stan. And his response shocks her to her core. 

“Maybe because he hopelessly loves you and is upset you keep rejecting him? Seriously, don’t you want to give yourselves a shot?”

And that is all she has to think about for the next 3 months.

\-------------

The fourth - and final - time that the stupid fucking damned question is asked, the tables have turned. In retrospect, she wonders how she, Ella Francis - Cambridge University Graduate - had been so dumb. Its winter again, and once more she is sitting with Evans. Across him, this time. They’re having their yearly ‘catching-up dinner’. Its a kind of tradition they’ve formed and followed for a couple of years now. When? She knows not. All she knows is that she has spent lots of time with him prior to this. She texts him, calls him, visits him. They’re just friends. She still doesn’t know why she always pushed him away. But she knows why she is here today. She knows that she is standing at the edge of a cliff. A step towards him is like falling down. Free-fall. There would be no stopping; no slowing down. She finally has an honest answer for his question.  
So, they’ve finished dinner and they’re walking in some park in suburban London because it’s pretty and there are christmas lights everywhere and it’s cold. It’s cold but she feels warm thanks to this adrenaline coursing through her veins. She feels as though she might choke if she didn’t say something now. 

“It’s strange, you haven’t asked me on a date yet.” She teases

“I never ask you on a date.” He responds. Stops. Sighs. Then continues, “I ask you if you’ll give me a chance. I ask you what's stopping you, why you think we won’t happen".  
Oh. And she had figured out that he loved her for a while now. She also knew what a genuinely nice person he is. But his statement put things into perspective. Like his words were the magnet to solve her puzzled mind. She now understood that he wasn’t ever asking for just a date. No. He was asking for her. He wanted everything and anything. He already believed in them; believed they were it. And so as she looks up at him, it dawns upon her that everything that she’d been running from, was everything and more that she was looking for and wonders how she was capable enough of wasting one whole year.

“Evans?”

“Hmmm?”

“Ask me again. One last time? I may have an answer this time around”

“Third time’s the charm?”

“Maybe,”

She can tell he’s nervous and she can tell he has no idea that she’ll ask him too. So they simultaneously ask each other “Do you want to give us a shot?”, “Do you want to give me a shot?”. And as the corners of his mouth turn up, she feels herself grinning too. There’s this strange feeling in the air. It’s excitement and relief and joy and nervousness and and and. Most importantly, for Ella at least, there seems to light: hope surrounding two beings in the middle of a deserted park. It’s all around her and she feels giddy with excitement as she says it to him, to herself, reassuring them that this is finally happening. She says it. Three letters. One word. 

“Yes”.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!!! Please do comment as it helps me improve my writing and I love hearing from you guys. You can also follow me on tumblr for more Chris Evans fanfics at http://we-tranquilsouls-riotousthoughts.tumblr.com


End file.
